OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE STRATEGIES: THE GAME PLAN FOR SUCCESS IN BUSINESS

Business world is a wide fighting arena where competitors are constantly moving and changing positions in order to get ahead in the business track. When you are the leading company within the industry, you belong to you need a defensive strategy to maintain your status quo or level in the market field, but if you’re in the bottom line or the 2nd place, then you need to have an offensive strategy to get ahead of the leading company. It’s like playing a basketball game that you need the defensive and offensive game plan. Below are the few concerns you need to bear in mind before you can use these strategies:

A.) KNOW YOUR STANDING POSITION IN THE MARKET FIELD.

Once the company knows their standing in the market arena then they will know what strategy, they will use it is either be defensive or offensive? If you’re the trend setter or the global leader, you need a defensive strategy to maintain your position in the market. Like the Apple Company which is the leader in Technology. The latter innovates their product constantly and launches it before the others can in order to be always in the lead. Once the consumers getting use of using your product and customer satisfaction is served it’s hard for the competing company to break the loyalty. And if you’re the trend setter and the leader then you can dictate the market. Therefore, your defensive strategies should be strong and effective to counter the competitor’s offensive strategy.

There are few types of defensive and offensive strategies that a company can use in order to get in the lead or to maintain the position in the market. To name the five (5) types offensive strategies as identified by Singh and Kotler are the frontal attack, flanking attack, encirclement attack, bypass attack and guerrilla warfare and for the six(6) types defensive strategies are position defense, mobile defense, pre-emptive defense, flank position defense, counteroffensive defense and strategic withdrawal defense. Whatever type of offensive or defensive strategies the company uses depending on the market’s status they belong, they should gather the vital information that their rivals have in order for these types of strategies to work effectively because each type of strategies has each own criterion or conditions.

C.) COMPETITOR’S PRODUCT IS YOUR STRATEGY’S GUIDE.

Once you know the product’s info of your competitor and their standing in the market field then you know what type of strategy you will use. For example, if you want to dilute the market standing of your leading competitor, subsequently you will use either flanking attack, encirclement attack or any of those five (5) depending on the decision and intention the company wants to do.

Lastly, whatever strategy the company plans to use the company’s situation should be considered first because it involves money and commitment to make it successful.

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